An early start, having quickly forgotten how to wake at dawn, at 8 and head off, sore bums on seats to the bicycle rental man for the agreed 9am. A pleasant enough half-hour chat with the other people waiting for his repair services passed and we left the bikes chained to his hut. The other customers left too. We popped over the road to let the other bike rental man know we'd left the bikes chained up (using the sort of lock I learned to pick when I was ten, so I was a bit concerned) however he denied all knowledge of the bloke.
We jumped in the tour taxi a little unsure of what to expect. It remained that way until we stepped out again several hours later. The tourist map has several points of interest on it and a Tongatapu [the name of this island] Highlights Trail which seems to avoid several of them. It looked like our route was going to follow the trail.
Tonga is very reminiscent of Zanzibar in that it's pretty flat with thick green bush with lots of trees, in particular, palm trees. The roads are reasonably well surfaced and very quiet although the big change [from Zanzibar] is that the driving is more sedate. People doing 70kmh are tutted.
The island has two faces, the leeward side is classic tropical island, calm waters, palm topped islands, people stood in the water pulling in nets. The windward, ocean facing side is craggy, volcanic rocks overlooking the hard rock edge of the island into which big waves (up to 3m on this calm day, anyway) crash sending clouds of foaming water skyward. The inbound rolling waves meet with reflected waves and rise up in a pleasing to the eye deep blue, pale blue then white plume sort of way.
The other highlights are where Captain Cook landed in 1777 to meet the King and the local archaeological sites. Site number one is the great tombs, which you would miss completely (as our guide did) if you weren't in the know. A large stone faced burial mound that may or may not have had three tiers. The trouble is that the place is completely overgrown with an enormous [oak?] tree growing out of one end.The adjacent cemetary makes it look like it's the edging for that cemetary.
Site number two is the site of the ancient capital, once, they think. We jumped out, photographed this stonehenge style two supports and crosspiece and jumped back in and asked what the story behind it was. Didn't you read the plaque and look at the other bits?
Ah. Back out and read all about it. Sadly, most of it is covered in bush and you have to interpret the discussion on the plaques about the oral tradition as all you can see are some (neatly) hacked bits of volcanic rock lying at an angle in the uneven ground.
Another Royal Beer tag line: The first beer of the day, every day.
Back at the ranch we did lunch -- packet soup followed by beans on toast -- and calculated that we've saved quite a lot of money on the Tongan trip. We'd bugetted US$ 1990 and we think the final bill will be T$ 1500 (or about US$ 750) which should get us back on track following the African and Maledivian excesses.
Amazingly, we've hardly drunk any alcohol though I have risked a can of Vodka and Orange (see my report on the Gin and Tonic) and a can of Victoria Beer -- the alternative was Fosters -- for tonight. The beer tokens never appeared in the budget (big mistake) nor did many other regular bits and pieces (laundry, toiletries, [films] etc.). They still cost a chunk of money that you don't want to come out of any individual day's budget. I'm not sure if the Lonely Planet's guide prices for lower budget travellers includes beer. Must check.
Having returned from photographing the Royal Palace (a modest Victorian style house, the Crown Prince has a decent English country mansion just outside town) I note in the post sunset fading light that the air isn't thick with the smoke of the mosquito coil but Saturday must be Burn Something Day in Tonga.
A third and final day of homecooked pasta (that's about the only thing that the supermarket sells that you can be bothered cooking in the guesthouse kitchen). The Vodka and Orange was unpleasant orange and rough vodka but I drank it anyway. The Victoria beer was OK but that's probably because I only had one can to drink. I listened to the local dogs barking at each other -- a good few hours' worth tonight -- and almost found a pattern. Or maybe the beer was having a effect...
Divers' Lodge, Tuka'alofu S21.14321 W175.19405 Elev. 49m!
Copyright 2002 Ian Fitchet. All rights reserved.